91. A Biblical Take on Body Image and Self-Esteem

Feeling overwhelmed by the constant barrage of perfection on social media? We know how that can chip away at your self-esteem, which is why we are bringing you a refreshing perspective on body image rooted in Scripture. In our latest episode, we delve into the heart-wrenching reality faced by young girls and women who grapple with body dissatisfaction. The painful prevalence of eating disorders and societal pressures is laid bare, but we counter these challenges with the liberating truth that we are all exquisitely crafted in the image of God. As we unfold the stats and stories, we aim to arm you with a grace-filled lens to view your own reflection.

Join us for a soul-nourishing discussion where we highlight the significance of cherishing inner beauty and the spiritual essence of our being. Drawing wisdom from Psalm 139 and 1 Samuel, we explore how focusing on the condition of our hearts is paramount in God's eyes. Through my experiences as a makeup artist and pilgrim on the journey of self-acceptance, I share how to combat negative thoughts with prayer and Scripture. Let this episode encourage you to embrace your God-given worth and step into a week radiant with confidence, armed with the powerful reminder from Proverbs 31 that a God-fearing woman's worth is beyond measure.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:32

Hello and welcome to the Radiant Mission Podcast. My name is Rebecca Toomey and we are on a mission to encourage and inspire you as you're navigating through your life and with your relationship with Christ you as you're navigating through your life and with your relationship with Christ. We are currently in a series called God's Design for Women's Health, and so far in this series we have discussed birth control, fertility awareness method, marketing tactics that are used to undermine breastfeeding for new mothers. We've talked about a very, very incredible story about Planned Parenthood and choosing life. We've talked about dismantling diet culture and how to truly nourish our bodies as women. Today, I would like to address body image issues and body dysmorphia from a biblical perspective. This is something that is so pervasive through our culture as women and something that we are constantly up against. I know that it's something that I faced in my own life and you've likely heard my co-host and sister, rachel Smith's story with eating disorders and I really feel that this is an important topic for us to address and really talk about. What does the Bible say about our bodies and body image, and how can we give ourselves a little bit of grace and have a better perspective on how we see our bodies First.

Speaker 1: 2:07

I want to share some really interesting statistics. These first stats come from the National Organization for Women, and in one report it states that at age 13, 13, so just became a teenager 53% of American girls are unhappy with their bodies. This grows to 78% by the time girls reach age 17. So by the time that girls aren't even adults yet. So by the time that girls aren't even adults yet, nearly 80% already are unhappy with their bodies. 50% of teens are self-conscious about their bodies. 26.2% report being totally dissatisfied. 60, nearly 28,. 29% of women feel dissatisfied and nearly 33% feel self-conscious about their bodies. These are crazy stats, and they just go on and on. Here's one that really stood out to me Somewhere between 40 to 60% of elementary school girls are concerned about their weight or about becoming quote too fat.

Speaker 1: 3:35

What Little girls concerned about their weight and what they look like? And where do you think that this comes from? How we're talking about ourselves, right? A majority of girls 59% reported dissatisfaction with their body shape and 66% expressed the desire to lose weight. 46% of age nine to 11 year old girls are sometimes very often, or are sometimes or very often on diets, and 82% of their families are sometimes, or very often, on diets 82% of their families. That's where this is stemming from. It starts with us moms. It starts with us. I'm a mom of two young girls and I can tell you that this idea of what we look like, of being skinny, of being fat, of all of the words that we use, when it comes to how we look, they hold power and what we say matters. So I want to start off with that, and studies from Stanford University and the University of Massachusetts found that 70% of college women say they feel worse about their own looks after reading women's magazines. Yeah, I can imagine, and that's not even stats on social media, which is just ridiculous.

Speaker 1: 5:12

Let's talk a little bit about eating disorders. 15% of young women have disordered eating, and studies indicate, by a woman's first year of college, somewhere between 5 and 18% of women have a history of bulimia, and as many as 1 in 100 females between the ages of 12 and 18 have anorexia. According to the Center of Mental Health Services, 90% of those who have eating disorders are women between the ages of 12 and 25. This is just insanity to me. Now let's talk about some stats from Heart of Leadership Seven in 10 girls seven in 10, believe they are not good enough or do not measure up in some way, including their looks, performance in school and relationships with family and friends. There is a lot of pressure for perfectionism and 74% of girls say that they're under pressure to please everyone. 98% of girls feel that there's an immense pressure from external sources to look a certain way. 92% of teen girls would like to change something about the way they look, with body weight ranking the highest. 90% of eating disorders are found in girls. One in four girls today fall into a clinical diagnosis for either depression, eating disorders, cutting and other mental or emotional disorders. And on top of these, many more report being constantly anxious, sleep deprived and under significant pressure. I don't know about you, but these stats and the way that women and girls young girls feel about their bodies, it isn't just sad, it is so wrong. This is not how God intended for us to think about our bodies that he so gracefully gave us. So let's talk about that.

Speaker 1: 7:27

Let's talk about our bodies from the perspective of our creator, yahweh. It all starts in the very first chapter of the Bible. Right there in Genesis, we are told that God created mankind in his own image Genesis 1, verse 27. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him Male and female. He created them. So our physical image and appearance, they're a reflection of God's image. It is out of love that he created us and he made us to be just like him. He created us and he made us to be just like him. What God designed during the creation of the earth, he declared it good, and that means that that includes us. You guys, all humans are good creations and all of us were made uniquely in God's image. In God's image, our image and what we look like. It shares characteristics with Yahweh, our creator, in his image.

Speaker 1: 8:47

So something that is just so mind boggling to me is how we nitpick, pick what he created. He literally created us to look like him and we just slough it off. We think we are not good enough, our bodies aren't good enough, and to me it's just so heartbreaking that we have fallen into this state and fallen into the world and into seeking and thinking that what the world values is more important than what God values. We have value because God created us and we have that value through him. We are beautiful because we are a reflection of the beauty of God, reflection of the beauty of God.

Speaker 1: 9:44

So I think that looking at yourself as being created in God's image can really help to think more positively about your appearance, your body image and what you look like, and if we can really shift our mindset from this worldly view that, I have to just say it, it is vanity and it is often very shallow. If we can look at it from this biblical view that the appearance is a way of God showing his image through individuals in unique ways, I think that we can heal and change the narrative that we have about ourselves. And if you're thinking okay, whatever, I still can't get over how self-conscious I am about my body. This isn't what I want it to look like. I want it to look like that person over there. Those are the world's standards and I want to remind you that your body is not you. Let me say that again your body is not you.

Speaker 1: 10:53

Okay, it can be really hard to separate the two that we are not our bodies, but what we see when we look in the mirror and that is our physical body. It is an outer shell of us. We are a soul that's living inside of these bodies. You may have heard Rachel's reference to referring us as flesh tents, which I think is kind of funny, but I also think about it kind of like a turtle shell or like an avatar in a way. We have bodies but we are not our bodies, and when we leave this earth, our bodies stay here. They don't go with us. We don't look like this after our life here on earth. So it's important to remember that we aren't our body. It doesn't define who we are as a person, define who we are as a person. Sure, we are made in the image of God, but at the end of the day, we are what is inside of us, and so it's important, yes, that we take care of the vessel that we are in, but not to obsess over it.

Speaker 1: 12:14

In 1 Corinthians 6, verses 19 through 20,. In 1 Corinthians 6, verses 19 through 20, it says what that really means to me is that it's important that we maintain our physical health, that we don't just throw our bodies away and treat them like trash. We treat them well, which is why we have been doing this series on women's health and why we've discussed health in the past, because it's important for us to honor God by honoring our bodies. When we take care of the bodies that he's given us, we really are taking care of what he has given us as a gift. Right, but see, here's the thing. We can go two ways. We can either not take care of our bodies, ignore our body's nutritional and physical needs, or we can also go on the other end of the spectrum we can idolize fitness and health and become totally obsessed with it. So there is a happy medium to be had here, and it's important that we take care of our bodies, but that we don't find value in our appearance as if it is the most important thing in our lives.

Speaker 1: 13:41

There's a really important passage in Matthew that I was actually just talking about with some family members the other day. It is in chapter six, verses 27 through 29. Can any one of you, by worrying, add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon, in all his splendor, was dressed like one of these. And this is just such a small but pivotal verse that reminds me of how we try so hard to look good and wear the right clothes and look a certain way. Yet even the peonies that are growing in my backyard are just beautiful because God created them that way. We really don't have to try so hard that way. We really don't have to try so hard.

Speaker 1: 14:44

So what do you do when you are in this predicament of not liking your body or feeling worried because you're getting wrinkles, you're getting crow's feet or you're getting sunspots or sun damage, or whatever the case might be, or sun damage or whatever the case might be? Here's the thing we are blessed, first of all, to be able to experience that. That means that we are aging and that we are still alive here, and that, to me, is a that is a gift. Getting to age is a gift because not everyone gets to age, not everyone lives for that long. So, first of all, embracing that we were literally created to age as we go through our life we don't stay a baby forever Doesn't make sense. So, of course, we're going to get wrinkled, our bodies are going to shift and change and, after we have babies, our body shape is going to change. That's how it was all intended to be. We were not intended to stay the same for our entire lives and look like we were 17 years old, from the time we were 17 until the time that we're 70. That does not make sense. Our bodies are meant to age and that is a gift, so let me just remind you of that.

Speaker 1: 16:04

But if this is something that you are really struggling with, I want to encourage you to pray about your struggle. Encourage you to pray about your struggle. Pray about your struggle with comparison and with caring honestly about what the people around you think, because, at the end of the day, the only person that matters is God and what he thinks. And he looks at us on the inside. He looks at our hearts, he looks at our soul and how we act, what we do, what we think, what we can overcome. He's not looking at our physical bodies and saying, oh yes, most beautiful. Quite the opposite. And there is just so much pain and hurt and damage that can come with constantly comparing ourselves to other people, and it does not help us at all. So if you are struggling with how you feel about how you look and worrying what other people think, with how you feel about how you look and worrying what other people think, I'd like you to reflect on Galatians 1, verse 10, where it says for am I now seeking the approval of man or of God, or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. Let that one sink in for a minute. Am I seeking the approval of man or God? It's an important one.

Speaker 1: 17:43

I also have another couple of verses that I want to point to. This one I have mentioned on this podcast many times because it is an awesome verse Psalm 139, verses 13 to through 14. For you forms my inward parts. You knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works. My soul knows it very well. He literally forms us, you guys. He forms us inside of our mother's womb. Just as many of you listening are mothers yourself and have formed children inside of your womb. The Lord has formed those children inside of your womb and when they're born and you look at those beautiful little babies and you just fall in love with them, are you thinking or judging that baby on their appearance, saying, oh, compared to other babies, your weight isn't right, you don't look as skinny as you should. No, we are just so enamored in love and that is how God feels about us. That's how he loves us. He's so just honored to be our father. My own words, by the way, not from the Bible I'd also like to point out in 1 Samuel 16, verse 7,.

Speaker 1: 19:14

But the Lord said to Samuel do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees. Man looks on the outward appearance but the Lord looks on the heart. The man looks on the outward appearance but the Lord looks on the heart. So when we are looking at ourselves and we are judging our own appearance and just having these negative body image issues, or really to the extent of body dysmorphia, we are looking at ourselves in a worldly way. We aren't looking at ourselves from the perspective of the Lord. In 1 Peter 3, verses 3 through 4, do not let your adorning be external, the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry or the clothing you wear, but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit which, in God's sight, is very precious. God's sight is very precious. Again, it is not about our external. It's about what is inside of us. It is our soul, it is our spirit. So what can we do from here?

Speaker 1: 20:47

I want to share a couple of practical ways that you can appreciate your appearance without being obsessed with it, to remind yourself that there is so much value beyond your outward appearance and that can really help to change the way that you think about your image. So the first thing is, of course I mentioned, prayer before. Prayer is so important, super, the most important Ask the Lord to give you peace over your body and to appreciate and see what he sees in your body. Some other ideas are to keep a journal or a devotional that really reminds you of why your body has value. Use some of the verses that I've mentioned in this episode, which I will link in the show notes, of course. So feel free to go, take those verses and write them down and remind yourself, when you are feeling self-conscious and you're scrolling on social media comparing yourself to everyone else, to go back and remind yourself that what you look like is not important. It is your heart and it is how you treat others that matters the most. Treat others that matters the most.

Speaker 1: 22:19

It can also be helpful to put these Bible verses around, if that is something that is helpful to you, so kind of like, write them down affirmation type of style where you can stick it on your mirror or something like that. Maybe put it on your makeup vanity that is interesting, it's called a vanity right and for every negative thought that you're having about yourself, think something positive, but something positive. That's about your character, not about how you look. When you want to pick at yourself, instead of saying, oh, my stomach is so fat, think, wow, it's incredible that I had the opportunity to give birth, what a blessing it is that I have these beautiful children around me. Really value what you have been given, because, again, it is a gift, and dwelling on the negative, it is only going to send you into a spiral. So remind yourself of these positive thoughts about yourself. I do realize that I used a body example, but you can also think about something internal, like, instead of thinking my stomach is so fat or so my skin is hanging because I had a baby, think about how much your heart and love has grown and that you have the gift of caring for those around you and for others.

Speaker 1: 23:56

I know that this isn't easy and that this is challenging. I have myself been through quite a journey with this. If you've been listening to the podcast for a while, you'll know that myself, along with my sister, actually has a background in makeup artistry, and that, in and of itself, can be a form of vanity. Right, we are masking what we look like, we're changing our appearance to look more to the world's standards, and it's something that I have grown a lot through over the years and fortunately, I have a very wonderful and loving husband who has helped me to grow out of some of those self-conscious fears that grow out of some of that self-consciousness that I have just grown way too comfortable with during my own teen years and young adult years.

Speaker 1: 24:54

So I hope you find this helpful and encouraging, and I'd like to thank you for continuing to be on this journey with us, and if you're not already following on social media, please do so. You can find us on Instagram or Facebook at the Radiant Mission Today. I'm going to close with Proverbs 31, verse 30. Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. I'm wishing you a radiant week and I'll see you next time. Bye.